


Apprenticeship

by rudbeckia



Series: exchange student AU [2]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 12:21:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16661081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudbeckia/pseuds/rudbeckia
Summary: Almost a year after Mitaka’s party, Hux is visiting Kylo in the USA at last, an event Kylo has been looking forward to ever since they hooked up. Kylo has their future all planned, but a change in Hux’s circumstances throws that all out.Kylo does not react well to unexpected change. Will Hux be able to talk him round?(Oh come on, you know me. Of course he will)For a prompt from rhole on tumblr: conflict resolution.





	Apprenticeship

Hux wiped exhaustion from his pasty forehead as he stood in front of the stern face of Homeland Security. His spine protested ten hours of enforced, cramped seating then two hours of slowly shuffling in line. When snapped at, he put his fingers on the scanner and looked into the camera. After a tense minute of eyes flicking repeatedly from his face to the photo page of his passport and back again, after answering blunt inquiry as to the nature and duration of his visit, after reciting Kylo’s address twice, he received a brief smile and a muttered, _”Welcome to the USA,”_ as the uniformed officer glared at the next traveller behind the yellow tape on the floor and yelled, _”NEXT!”_

The arrivals hall was so busy it made Hux’s head spin. He burst through heavy double-doors and turned a corner and there in front of him, across chrome barriers, leaned a crowd all holding up signs for strangers or waving and calling out as friends and family rushed past into waiting arms.  
“Hux! Hux! Over here!”  
The voice boomed over the ruckus. Hux looked around and saw Kylo Ren’s grin towering over everyone else, both arms up and waving to him. He summoned up a smile and pushed his way around the barrier to where Kylo waited.  
“Ugh don’t hug me. I stink.”  
Kylo gave him an extended, bone-crushing hug anyway and Hux bit his lip to fight back tears.  
“Sweet stars above it’s good to see you again. Come on, my dad’s waiting in the car park.”  
Hux snuffled and nodded. Kylo grabbed his cabin-approved case, messenger bag and hand, pulling Hux away from the bright lights and noise into a cool, calm dusk.

Stillness and sudden silence and then a deep laugh roused Hux.  
“Hey Ben, your boyfriend’s awake. I’ll get the bags. You get him inside. Been a long day, kid.”  
Hux barely registered the words through his headache. Kylo led him into the house where a petite woman with dark, braided hair and a serious set to her face waited.  
“Hi, welcome,” she said in a soft voice, holding her hand out. Hux shook it. “I’m Leia. You must be so tired. Did you sleep on the flight?”  
“Not really,” admitted Hux.  
“Okay. Ben? Show him his room and come down for dinner in an hour. You might not feel like eating,” Leia smiled at Hux, “but trust me, you’ll feel better if you do.”  
Hux smiled and nodded then followed Kylo upstairs to a bedroom with matching space-themed curtains and bedding. Hux laughed. “This is your room. I recognise it from Skype... Ben.”  
“I like when you call me Kylo. Look, you can have the spare bedroom if you prefer. I want you to sleep here with me—I washed the sheets and tidied up today—but it’s okay if you need your own space.”  
“Won’t your parents be upset?”  
Kylo looked confused. “What for?”  
“Well, I mean,” Hux rubbed his forehead and smiled. “Nothing. Can I use your shower?”  
“Through there.” Kylo pointed. “I’ll bring you a towel.”

Hux stripped, leaving his travel-soiled clothes on the bathroom floor, and got under the shower. He stood for a minute, eyes closed, breathing deeply, just to unwind from the over long day. He barely registered the sounds of Kylo pottering around until Kylo’s voice boomed through the hiss of the spray.  
“Uh, mind if I join you?”  
Hux opened his eyes and saw Kylo peering nervously through the doorless archway into the bathroom.  
“I’m so tired I could fall asleep in here,” said Hux.  
“So... is that a yes or a no?”  
Hux nodded. “Yes.”  
“Yes I can join you, or yes you do mind?”  
“Kylo, the thought of seeing you undressed in person rather than on my laptop screen is waking me up.” Hux laughed. “Get in here.”  
Kylo grinned and shed his clothing, adding to the heap on the floor, then stepped into the shower beside Hux.  
“I was worried,” said Kylo, reaching for the shower gel. “I know we talked about it, but I thought we might be awkward with each other.” Kylo lathered the gel and massaged it into Hux’s hair. Hux slipped his arms around Kylo’s waist and kissed him.  
“Do you feel awkward?” replied Hux, closing his eyes as Kylo’s hands stroked the foam from his hair. “I did at first but not now.”  
“Not at all,” said Kylo. “I’m just so happy you’re actually here.”  
Kylo squeezed out more gel and lathered it down Hux’s back to his buttocks. He massaged with gentle circular movements that made Hux groan and giggle.  
“Do we have time for... anything?”  
“Definitely.”  
Kylo held Hux close, hands on his ass, grinding their hips together. Hux slipped his hands between them, cupping Kylo’s balls in one hand and clasping his cock with the other. Kylo wrapped his large, soapy hand around Hux’s erection.  
“Whoever comes last gets a forfeit.”  
Hux laughed. “Fine. I know you play to lose.”

Over dinner of takeout pizza, Hux politely submitted to interrogation.  
“Ben says you plan to study engineering,” said Leia. “Have you secured a place at a good college? Do you start your course soon?”  
“Actually,” said Hux, looking down. “I got the grades for the course I wanted but for other reasons I had to turn it down.”  
“What?” Kylo frowned at Hux. “When did that happen?”  
“I was going to tell you later. My dad refused to co-sign my student finance details so I can’t go. But it’s okay!” Hux put his hand on Kylo’s arm. “I still get to be an engineer. Just a different kind of engineer and as an apprentice rather than at university. I was lucky to get a good reference from someone high up. Admiral Rae Sloane knows me and my dad from his Royal Navy days and she sends me birthday cards and stuff. She always said I could call her if I needed anything. So when my dad... Well. I called Rae and she pulled some strings for me. I start in two weeks.”  
“That’s great!” Kylo smiled and threw his arms around Hux’s shoulders. “Can you still get to go abroad if you want?”  
“Um,” Hux frowned. “Yes. I will be sent abroad.”  
Han met Hux’s eyes as he flicked a nervous gaze around the table. Han nodded his understanding. “Honey? Maybe we can question the kid tomorrow. He looks beat.”  
“Hey, I only want to know that our son is hooking up with someone who can look after him. Philosophy’s not lucrative.”  
“Mo-o-om!”  
“What!” Leia sat back and spread her hands in a gesture that was so like Kylo that Hux laughed and the tension in the atmosphere dissipated.

Hux offered to help tidy up but Leia refused, ordering Ben to help instead. Han jerked his head toward the door. “Gimme a hand in the garage?”  
Hux nodded and followed Han out. As soon as they were safely inside the garage, Han asked, “So how long you signed up for?”  
“Twelve years.”  
“Royal Navy? Swanning around the oceans on a warship?”  
Hux nodded then shook his head. “Submarine. Nuclear and weapons engineering.”  
“Ben’s talked about nobody but you since he got back from his visit last year. How d’ya think he’s gonna take this news?”  
Hux shook his head and turned away. “I wish it was different. I wish I was going to university and spending my second year here with him then graduating and getting a job like we planned. But that won’t happen. Either I kiss goodbye to my future career or... or...”  
“Or you kiss goodbye to Ben. Is that what you think?” Hux was silent. Han grasped his shoulder and shook him gently. “How long before he connects the dots for himself?”  
“Shit.” Hux sighed. “Not tonight. It’s not the right time.”  
“There’s no such thing as the right time. Come on back inside or Leia will think I’m questioning your intentions towards our son.”

Leia and Kylo were still in the kitchen. Hux could hear Kylo’s plaintive _”Mo-o-o-om!”_ from the front door. Han laughed.  
“Sounds like she’s giving him advice on his love life.”  
“Oh stars above, poor Kylo.”  
“Better rescue him, huh?”  
Hux took the hint and trotted through to the kitchen where he found Kylo, red-faced and horror-struck, and Leia grinning. “Hux!” she said, fighting laughter. “I was just telling Ben that you two ought to be careful. There are con—“  
“No-o-o!” Kylo grabbed Hux by the arm and hauled him out of the kitchen and upstairs to safety.

Once upstairs, Hux changed into pyjamas and got into bed. Kylo watched.  
“That’s so cute,” he said. “I sleep nude. Is that okay?”  
“Absolutely,” said Hux. “Sorry if this is too early for you, but my body is telling me it’s about three in the morning and I’ve been up all night.”  
Kylo undressed quickly and got in beside Hux. “An early night sounds nice. Can I put a movie on?”  
Hux nodded and hummed. “I’ll fall asleep. Is that okay?”  
“Sure!” Kylo flicked through the movie options. “Okay. There’s a real oldie: _Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea._ Or the remake of _On The Beach_ or there’s _Crimson Tide._ Any preference?” Kylo watched Hux’s eyelids flutter. “Hux?” There was no response. Kylo leaned over and kissed Hux gently then pressed play.

Hux woke from dreams of hissing water and ominous _ping!_ sounds to find the room in darkness and Kylo snoring softly by his side. He reached across Kylo for his phone: it was four in the morning. Hux lay back, wondering if it would be rude to get up and make tea. He wondered if there even was tea. He shifted again and Kylo grumbled. That settled Hux’s mind. He slid down the bed and got out, glad of his pyjamas, and felt his way downstairs in the dark.

In the kitchen, Hux was reminded that he was in a foreign country. Instead of a bright, shiny electric kettle and a set of canisters labelled tea, coffee and sugar, there was a complicated looking machine with a note stuck to it. Hux peered at the note. It said, _Help yourself to tea and coffee._ He pulled the note free and examined the machine, pressing the biggest button to see what would happen. The machine lid popped open like a gaping mouth.  
“Need a hand?”  
Hux jumped at the sound of Kylo’s voice. He turned. “Sorry, did I wake you?”  
“I woke up and you were gone so I came to see if you were okay.”  
“I was going to make some tea, but...” he waved at the perplexing machine.  
Kylo smiled and shook his head. “The future of British engineering can’t figure out the keurig?”  
“Not jet lagged at four in the morning. Before being mean, please remember that you owe me a forfeit and I have not decided yet what it will be.”  
“Ooh!” Kylo grinned and adjusted his robe. “That sounds interesting. Pods are in the cupboard underneath. You literally can’t get it wrong. The machine tells you what to do. Make me one too?”

Hux made two mugs of tea, tutting at the over-engineered solution to the problem of making a simple beverage, and sat at the table beside Kylo. He sighed and leaned against Kylo for warmth and comfort.  
“There’s a thing I have to tell you.”  
“Oh?” Kylo frowned.  
“My apprenticeship is with the Royal Navy.”  
“Yeah I guessed that.”  
“So when I said I get sent abroad, I don’t get to choose where.”  
“Oh.”  
“Sorry. I don’t get to spend a year here with you.”  
“Huh. I suppose you can come for holidays and stuff? You can get flights and come over? Like, for the summer vacations?”  
“When I get leave, Kylo. I won’t be a student with long vacations.”  
Kylo sighed. “It’s not fair. I find someone I really want to be with and shit like this happens.” He sipped tea. “We can Skype. I mean, we stayed together most of the past year because we saw each other every day just not in person. Right?”  
Hux put his face in his hands and sighed. “Sometimes we can. But when I’m on active duty I won’t be able to Skype you.”  
“Why not?” asked Kylo. “Royal Navy not got broadband?”  
“I’m going to be on a nuclear submarine for months at a time. No outside contact for security reasons.”  
“Shit.” Kylo banged his mug on the table. “I can’t believe you’d go that far. Hux, why don’t you just say you don’t want to be with me?”  
“You think... You think I’m running away to join the Navy to get away from you?” Hux shook his head, feeling his gut twist and his words dry in his mouth. “Kylo, do you think I should give in to my father and work for him in his crappy company that he’s running into the ground? Live under his roof and abide by his rules? I can’t. I won’t. I want to be myself. I want to be an engineer. There’s no other way I can do it. I was bloody lucky to get in!”  
“But what about all we planned! What about you moving here? What about... Fuck.” Kylo got up. He threw his mug into the sink and Hux heard it smash. “See you in the morning.”  
Kylo stormed out and banged the kitchen door. Footsteps thudded upstairs and another door slammed. Hux let his shoulders slump and his head sag onto his arms folded on the table in front of him. After a minute or two he got up, wiped his eyes and picked broken ceramic from the sink.

“Kid, I know I said there wasn’t a right time but that sure was the wrong time.” Hux looked up as Han’s face peered through the grey early morning light that filtered into the kitchen. “So you told him?” said Han.  
“Yes.”  
“How did he take the news?”  
“Badly.”  
Han nodded. “Smashing crockery before five in the morning. I’ve had worse alarm calls. Listen, he’ll come round.” Hux raised his eyebrows at Han. Han smiled and made coffee then sat opposite Hux. “He doesn’t take disappointment well. Takes after his mom. You should have seen Leia’s reaction when I joined the Air Force.”  
“You were in the Air Force?”  
“Briefly, yes.” Han gave a rueful smile. “Turns out military service and I are not suited to each other on account of I don’t like being told what to do and officers don’t like being told what I think of them. Now. I think there’s more to it than that story about your dad and money. If that was all it was, you could take an apprenticeship with, I dunno, a civilian company. Learn to make cars or aeroplanes. What is it you’re afraid of?”  
Hux sucked his lip and blinked back tears.  
“If I tell Kylo... Ben that I _want_ to do this, he’ll think I’m choosing my career over him and that I don’t love him.”  
“But isn’t that exactly what you’re doing? Choosing your career over a boy you barely know?”  
Hux couldn’t speak.  
“For what it’s worth, I think you’re making the right decision.” Han sighed. “Ben... Kylo will see that. Eventually.”

Hux excused himself and went upstairs. He paused outside Kylo’s room, wondering if he should go to the spare bedroom instead but he didn’t know which door it was. He decided he’d rather face Kylo than risk walking in on Leia. He pushed the door open as quietly as he could and stepped inside, closing the door behind him.  
“Kylo?”  
“Fuck off.”  
“Kylo, will you let me explain?”  
“No.”  
“I love you.”  
“Then don’t go.”  
“We can work around it. I love you and I am going to do this.”  
Kylo pulled his pillow over his head. Hux walked closer, waited for a few seconds then sat on the edge of the bed.  
Muffled, “If you loved me you’d move here with me right now.”  
“One day I will be able to.” Hux put his hand under Kylo’s pillow and stroked his hair. “It’s just going to take longer than we thought. It will be worth it, when I’m the best nuclear and weapons engineer on the planet and you’re the greatest philosopher. Kylo, I’m nineteen. I will retire from service when I’m thirty-one. There’s still a lifetime after that for us to spend together.”  
Hux felt Kylo relax slightly. He pulled the pillow from Kylo’s head.  
“But you’re going to be spending months at a time in a metal tube, underwater, living in cramped conditions with a bunch of fit men.”  
Hux bit his lip to tamp down the unwanted laughter. “Uh-huh. Sharing a bunkroom with dozens of other men and women. A bunk bed just big enough not to fall out of if I fart too energetically. A duty schedule that leaves me eight hours to eat and sleep. Minimal hygiene routine so I won’t want anyone near me. Kylo, love, I don’t think you need to worry about competition when I’m away. I’m more concerned that you’ll find a nice theology student at your uncle’s college. Someone your parents approve of. Someone... more available.”  
Kylo sat up, throwing the covers back. He glared at Hux, pointing a finger in his chest.  
“Is that what you think? That I’ll forget you and fuck the first fanciable student I meet?”  
“It’s a risk,” said Hux, looking away. “I wouldn’t blame you. I mean, I wouldn’t expect you to remain loyal to me when I’m... unavailable.”  
“You... You...” Kylo waved his hands. “You ASSHOLE!” He took a couple of deep breaths. “You’re all I’ve thought about for the last year. Counting down to our next Skype. Counting down to this visit. Counting down to when we can actually live together. And you... you CHANGE all that?”  
“I changed the final date, nothing else. I still want all that. It’s just going to take longer than we planned.”  
“Twelve years longer. That’s, like, a whole pre-teen longer.”  
“Well I wasn’t planning on us having kids right away but—“  
“Wait!” Kylo frowned at Hux. “You plan for us to have kids?”  
“I think about it, yes. For the future. The distant future. I wasn’t going to bring it up yet.”  
Kylo was quiet, frown easing. “Maybe we could get a dog or a cat first.”

Leia raised her eyebrows at Kylo when he and Hux surfaced again after lunchtime. Kylo ignored her.  
“Good mor... afternoon,” said Hux. “Sorry about—“  
“Oh hush.” Leia shook her head slowly. “Although I officially disapprove of your career path, I understand why you chose it. Ben?” Kylo sighed and turned to look at her. “I know! I forgot again. Kylo. I’m going to meet Amilyn this afternoon. You’ll have the house to yourselves until at least six. Think you’ll be able to entertain your guest until then?”  
“Okay mom. Have a good time.”  
Leia smiled and kissed Kylo’s cheek when he leaned down. She winked at Hux, picked up her keys and left without another word. Hux and Kylo listened for her car to start and purr its way down the driveway.  
“So.” Hux cocked his eyebrow at Kylo. “Forfeit?”  
Kylo grinned. “I owe you two.”


End file.
